Smoked Haddock and Chive Fishcakes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide, shallow pan for poaching
• •Potato masher
• •Heavy-bottomed frying pan, 28cm or wider
• •Three shallow dishes for crumbing

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach the haddock

   Lay the smoked haddock in a wide pan, skin side down. Pour the milk over, drop in the bay leaf and peppercorns, and bring to a bare simmer. Not a boil. You want the surface trembling, nothing more. Give it five minutes, then take the pan off the heat and leave the fish in the milk for another five. It will finish cooking gently in the residual warmth. The kitchen will smell of smoke and salt and something deeply savoury. That's how you know it's right.

   Ask your fishmonger for undyed smoked haddock. The dyed sort is that alarming canary yellow and adds nothing except a colour that doesn't belong on a plate. The natural stuff is pale gold and tastes of the sea rather than a factory.
2. 2

   Cook and mash the potatoes

   While the fish poaches, boil the potatoes in well-salted water until they fall apart when prodded with a knife. Drain thoroughly and let them steam dry in the colander for a few minutes. This matters. Wet potatoes make wet fishcakes, and wet fishcakes fall apart in the pan. Mash with the butter until smooth but not overworked. You want it a little drier and stiffer than you'd serve at the table. Season with salt and a good grinding of pepper.

3. 3

   Flake and combine

   Lift the haddock from the milk and peel away the skin. It should come off in one piece. Flake the fish into the mash in large, generous pieces, using your fingers rather than a fork. You want to find chunks of smoky fish in the finished fishcake, not a uniform paste. Fold in the chives, the mustard, and the lemon zest. Be gentle. The less you work this, the more interesting the texture. Taste the mixture. The smoked fish may give you enough salt on its own, but add more if it needs it.

   Keep the poaching milk. Strain out the bay leaf and peppercorns and use it for a parsley sauce, a chowder, or stirred into scrambled eggs in the morning. It's full of smoke and flavour and too good to pour down the sink.
4. 4

   Shape the fishcakes

   Divide the mixture into eight. Flour your hands lightly and shape each portion into a round cake about two centimetres thick. Don't press too firmly. A fishcake that's been squeezed into submission will be dense and heavy. You want it to hold its shape, nothing more. Place them on a tray and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes. Cold fishcakes hold together in the pan. Impatient fishcakes don't.

5. 5

   Crumb the fishcakes

   Set out three shallow dishes: flour in the first, beaten egg in the second, breadcrumbs in the third. Take each fishcake through the stations, flour first, then egg, then crumbs, turning to coat evenly. The flour gives the egg something to grip. The egg gives the crumbs something to grip. Skip a stage and the whole thing falls apart in the pan. This is the only part of the process where order matters.

6. 6

   Fry until golden

   Pour enough oil into a wide, heavy pan to come about a centimetre up the sides. Heat it over a medium flame until a breadcrumb dropped in sizzles immediately and turns golden in about twenty seconds. Fry the fishcakes in batches, three or four minutes a side, until the crust is deep gold and properly crisp. Don't move them for the first couple of minutes. Let the crumb set and colour. When you turn them, the underside should be the colour of a good conker. Drain on kitchen paper for a moment, then serve.

   Resist the temptation to crowd the pan. If the oil temperature drops, the crumb soaks up fat instead of crisping and you end up with something heavy and oily rather than light and golden. Two batches are better than one soggy one.

Chef Tips

• •Smoked haddock varies enormously. Find a fishmonger you trust and buy undyed fillets that smell of the sea and woodsmoke, not chemicals. The difference is in the first bite and it can't be masked by anything you do in the kitchen.
• •Make the mixture the night before if you can. A long rest in the fridge firms everything up and the flavours settle into each other. Fishcakes made from a freshly mixed batch are fine. Fishcakes that have sat overnight are better.
• •These are just as good cold the next day, eaten straight from the fridge with a smear of tartare sauce or a blob of mayo sharpened with a squeeze of lemon. Pack one in a lunchbox and you'll spend the morning looking forward to it.
• •If you've got leftover mash from last night's dinner, this is its highest calling. Let it come to room temperature before you fold in the fish. Cold mash and warm fish are not friends.

Advance Preparation

• •The fishcake mixture can be made a full day ahead and kept refrigerated. Shape and crumb them when you're ready to cook.
• •Shaped and crumbed fishcakes freeze well on a parchment-lined tray. Once solid, transfer to a bag. Fry from frozen, adding two minutes to each side over a slightly lower heat.
• •The poaching milk, strained, keeps in the fridge for two days. Use it in a white sauce, a fish pie, or tomorrow's porridge if you're feeling adventurous.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 275g)